Egypt

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT EGYPT - PAGE 3

CAIRO - Egypt's highest court ruled Sunday that the nation's interim parliament was illegally elected, though it stopped short of dissolving the chamber immediately, in a decision likely to fuel tensions between the ruling Islamists and the judiciary. The Supreme Constitutional Court also ruled that a 100-member panel that drafted the constitution was illegally elected. The immediate impact of the ruling is limited. The Islamist-dominated upper house of parliament, called the Shura Council, will remain in place until elections are held for a lower house, likely early next year.

I FIND IT difficult to believe the riots in Egypt happened overnight. They were the result of careful planning by our CIA and various groups in Egypt wanting to seize power. When Mubarak took over after Sadat was assassinated, he honored the treaty with Israel. Who is bankrolling this uprising, why did President Obama keep insisting on a transition of power? There are scores of questions left unanswered. Remember the warning President Eisenhower gave about the military-industrial complex.

WASHINGTON - President Obama urged Egypt's military Wednesday to hand back control to a democratic, civilian government without delay but stopped short of calling the ouster of President Mohammed Morsi a coup. Obama said he was "deeply concerned" by the move to topple Morsi and suspend the constitution. He said he was ordering the U.S. government to assess what the actions meant for U.S. foreign aid to Egypt. Under U.S. law, the government must suspend foreign aid to any nation whose elected leader is ousted in a coup.

WASHINGTON - The United States is delaying delivery of four F-16 fighter jets to Egypt in light of the military overthrow of Mohammed Morsi as president, but it has not decided whether to suspend military aid more broadly, the Pentagon said Wednesday. Pentagon press secretary George Little said President Obama made the decision to hold up the F-16 delivery while the administration continues to review options and consult with Congress on military assistance generally. The four F-16s were to be delivered under a previously arranged sale of 20. Eight of the F-16s were delivered earlier this year; after the four originally set for delivery this week the final eight were to be sent later this year.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Egypt's new government has imposed the toughest border restrictions on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip in years, sealing smuggling tunnels, blocking most passenger traffic and causing millions of dollars in economic losses. Some in Hamas fear the movement is being swept up in the same Egyptian military campaign that earlier this month toppled the country's democratically elected Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi - like the Gaza rulers part of the region's Muslim Brotherhood.

CAIRO - Egypt's military ruler on Sunday defended his testimony last month in the trial of ousted President Hosni Mubarak, denying that the army was ever ordered to shoot protesters during the uprising earlier this year. Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi testified in Mubarak's trial Sept. 24 under a media blackout. Leaks of his testimony suggest he sought to absolve Mubarak of any responsibility for the killing of nearly 850 protesters during the 18-day uprising that forced him to step down Feb. 11. Mubarak is charged with complicity in the killings.

CAIRO - Egypt's interior minister said Saturday that security authorities have arrested three suspected al-Qaeda-linked militants who were planning to carry out suicide attacks on vital installations and an unspecified foreign embassy. Mohammed Ibrahim told a news conference that the men had been in contact with Dawood al-Assady, a leader of al-Qaeda in southeast Asian countries such as Pakistan, and that the group was planning to attack government buildings and a foreign embassy. He did not disclose details.

CAIRO - Egypt's interim leader swore in a cabinet on Tuesday that included women and Christians but no Islamists as the military-backed administration moved swiftly to formalize the new political order and present a more liberal face that is markedly at odds with the deposed president and his supporters. The changes came at a time of deep polarization and violence in Egypt, including new clashes that killed seven people as part of the continuing bloodshed that has marked the days following the armed forces coup that swept President Mohammed Morsi from office and cracked down on the Muslim Brotherhood.

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt - A judge on Saturday released from jail two police officers who were convicted of beating a young man to death in a killing that helped inspire the country's 2011 uprising. The move came after an appeals court threw out the officers' conviction and ordered a retrial. The judge in an Alexandria court on Saturday ruled that the two could be released during the retrial after their lawyers argued they had spent months in pretrial detention. The next hearing in the case is expected in early July.

LUXOR, Egypt - Angry tourism workers and activists in Luxor threatened Monday to block a newly appointed Islamist governor from his office because of his links to a former militant group that killed scores of people in a 1997 attack in the ancient city and devastated Egypt's sightseeing industry. Adel el-Khayat was named to the provincial governor's post Sunday by President Mohammed Morsi, causing the outrage. Khayat is a member of the Construction and Development party, the political arm of Gamaa Islamiya, which waged an armed insurgency against the state starting in 1992 and attacked police, Coptic Christians, and tourists.